Mastery of the Complex

This article highlights that even after a half-century of development CAD continues to extend control over the design of ever-more-challenging systems. CAD came along at the same time as computer graphics programs. Both technologies allowed shapes to be depicted on the computer screen that had been dominated until then by blinking letters and numbers. Like its graphics counterpart, CAD advancements have continued apace. Today’s systems allow for 3D views that let engineers slice into their digital designs to look inside. Sutherland’s system displayed vector graphics rather than the raster graphics we're used to today. Sketchpad users controlled the cathode ray tubes electron beam via light pen to draw vectors on screen, creating shapes line by line. CAD helps because the engineer no longer shows up at a meeting and unrolls a bunch of blueprints. Today’s engineers can call upon a CAD tie-in called photorealistic modeling that makes use of light and shading effects to give photographic realism to digital designs.